Cong seeks house panel probe on land for Reliance

Bhubaneswar: The opposition Congress
on Wednesday demanded setting up of a house committee to probe
transfer of government land meant for a world class railway
station to a corporate giant.

The issue was raised in the assembly through an
adjournment motion by Congress which alleged a secret deal
between the state government and the company for the prime
land near the railway station here.

"A House Committee can unearth the truth behind the
deal between the government and the company for grabbing prime
land in the state capital," Congress member N K Das said.

Das`s demand received support from BJP supported
Independent member Pratap Sarangi who also demanded
cancellation of the deal and setting up a House Committee for
the deal.

Stating that the government had handed over 2.279 acre
owned by Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) to
Reliance Retail, Revenue minister S N Patro on behalf of
commerce and transport minister Sanjeev Sahoo, said the
company was given the land on a 33-year lease.

"The land, meant for development of a proposed world
class railway station here, was given according to an
agreement," Patro said.

Reliance Retail Limited had also agreed to return the
land near the railway station if the East Coast Railway
decided to go ahead with its proposed world class station
work.

OSRTC`s 2.279 acre was among the 100 acre of land
identified through a joint survey by the state government and
the Railways for setting up the railway station here, the
minister said.

The Railways, however, were yet to submit its detailed
project report (DPR), the minister said.

Justifying the state government`s decision of leasing
out the land, the minister said that Railways had not made any
budgetary provision for the railway station.

"According to the agreement, the state government will
have to allot equal amount of land to the company inside the
city in the event of railways wanting to take 2.279 acre of
land," the minister said.

The minister said the company had made a onetime down
payment of Rs 8.93 crore and paid monthly rent of Rs 6.70 lakh
for the land.